Best metro-accessible, walkable neighborhood for kids

[Anonymous]

Interesting thread. What about DC proper, wanted to see more posters living in Georgetown/Capitol Hill/Logan, etc. Also it would be good to get some opinions of the posters on school situation, since it's important for those of us with school aged kids looking to raise kids in a walkable connected area.

[Anonymous]

Rockville, Shady Grove areas, Downtown SS, Twinbrook, Bethesda, White Flint, Grosvenor-Strathmore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Capitol Hill. Lots of kids walking home from Union Station or Eastern Market in the afternoons, stopping for drinks/snacks, playing pickup baseball/basketball at the parks. I know because that's what my kids do. (They're middle schoolers.)

Capitol Hill resident here. Given the crime on the hill and the Union Station scene, I am unsure that I'd let an 11 year old walk home alone. Maybe a 14-15 year old. Love the hill up until now with a 7 year old, but it does not permit a lot of freedom for kids.

My kids are 11 and 13 and walk around the Hill all the time. From US every day; to parks or their friends’ houses almost daily. They’re always in groups at Union Station. I bet my kids and their friends have more freedom than most suburban kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where is a Metro accessible neighborhood for kids in Arlington? Everything along the Orange line is tailor made for DINKs, not kids.

Ballston / Bluemont just west of Glebe is both urban and family friendly. Or anywhere just north or south of the buildings from Ballston to Clarendon (generally north of Washington Blvd or south of Wilson Blvd).

+2 you haven’t been to Ballston in a long time if you think Ballston isn’t family friendly. The bar scene has died down significantly

I see families at the Ballston Ted’s Bulletin all the time, said no one ever.

The only neighborhoods I see families at in Arlington are in sections of South and North Arlington that are far away from the Metro. Barcroft, Penrose, Westover, etc. Westover is WAY more family friendly than anything walkable to the Orange Line stations in Arlington. There might be families there, but they are vastly outnumbered by the 20 and 30 somethings who are living in the condos than line this area. Businesses in the area - unlike businesses in a place like Westover - cater to singles and DINKs first, families are an oversight.

Um. What? Ted’s Bulletin is chock full of families all the time, especially on the weekend mornings.. It opens at 7 am for gods sake. Ballston Quarter also has a toy store, kid place space and great playgrounds. Other family-friendly, metro-friendly neighborhoods near Ballston: Bluemont, Arlington Forest North, Bon Air.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where is a Metro accessible neighborhood for kids in Arlington? Everything along the Orange line is tailor made for DINKs, not kids.

Ballston / Bluemont just west of Glebe is both urban and family friendly. Or anywhere just north or south of the buildings from Ballston to Clarendon (generally north of Washington Blvd or south of Wilson Blvd).

I agree with this - lived in Lyon park for 23 years and bluemont/west of Ballston reminds me exactly of our area late 90s - it is lots of families and ripe for a big uptick. Just need to get rid of lot at Safeway and put in something modern.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Capitol Hill. Lots of kids walking home from Union Station or Eastern Market in the afternoons, stopping for drinks/snacks, playing pickup baseball/basketball at the parks. I know because that's what my kids do. (They're middle schoolers.)

Capitol Hill resident here. Given the crime on the hill and the Union Station scene, I am unsure that I'd let an 11 year old walk home alone. Maybe a 14-15 year old. Love the hill up until now with a 7 year old, but it does not permit a lot of freedom for kids.

My kids are 11 and 13 and walk around the Hill all the time. From US every day; to parks or their friends’ houses almost daily. They’re always in groups at Union Station. I bet my kids and their friends have more freedom than most suburban kids.

NP here. My kid is 11 and he walks home from school and around the neighborhood by himself and with his friends. It’s one of the things we love most about Capitol Hill. We are near Eastern Market.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Capitol Hill. Lots of kids walking home from Union Station or Eastern Market in the afternoons, stopping for drinks/snacks, playing pickup baseball/basketball at the parks. I know because that's what my kids do. (They're middle schoolers.)

Capitol Hill resident here. Given the crime on the hill and the Union Station scene, I am unsure that I'd let an 11 year old walk home alone. Maybe a 14-15 year old. Love the hill up until now with a 7 year old, but it does not permit a lot of freedom for kids.

My kids are 11 and 13 and walk around the Hill all the time. From US every day; to parks or their friends’ houses almost daily. They’re always in groups at Union Station. I bet my kids and their friends have more freedom than most suburban kids.

NP here. My kid is 11 and he walks home from school and around the neighborhood by himself and with his friends. It’s one of the things we love most about Capitol Hill. We are near Eastern Market.

I love raising kids on the Hill! DS started walked to the grocery store on the Hill by himself at age 8 and was taking Metro and Metro bus alone around age 12. DD was a little more timid, but at age 15 is now teaching kids at her suburban private school how to take the bus/Metro from school to the Hill and other teenage hot spots (downtown, Pentagon City). She loves her independence and neither kid plans to learn to drive anytime soon. I feel much safer having them walk around the Hill than driving on a highway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We love our Friendship Heights neighborhood. I wish Friendship Heights/Tenleytown were a little more interesting/urban, but worth it for the community. Kids absolutely everywhere.

GDS offered to spend millions to create a vibrant mixed use town center development next to the amazing GDS expanded campus. But the NIMBY haters in Tenleytown fought and fought it. They would rather cling to their mattress stores rather than embrace a more urban and inclusive future.

[Anonymous]

If you have the budget, Cleveland Park.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're in Vienna and like it, but if I were to look elsewhere I'd look at Falls Church near the library and Cherry Hill Park. Walkable to lots of stuff, multiple great parks, seems like a nice community. It's too far to walk to Metro but you could bike, bus, or drive.

Are there a lot of kids roaming around in Vienna? What’s it like?

Vienna is much more family oriented than a place like Clarendon, where you have to dodge drunk frat boys every Friday and Saturday night. It’s a much more family oriented place.

And you can do very little in Vienna without getting in your car and driving for 10-15 minutes. Sure there are some recreational walking paths if you want to get some exercise and you if you luck out your ES might be walkable but your options for you or your kids to walk/bike/take transit to just about anything will be close to zero.

All of that driving to soccer games and the grocery store is far more dangerous than dodging drunk frat boys on the weekend though why kids who live in Arlington would be crossing paths with that crowd is eluding me.

Ironically those drunk frat kids are most likely driving in from Vienna and other far flung Virginia suburbs.

I'm the original PP who lives in Vienna, but not the person talking about Clarendon. We walk to restaurants and parks. We can't walk to the library, but know people who can and send their older kids there alone on foot. Kids run around the neighborhood and between houses, or bike to friends' houses. Lots of kids walk to school; mine take the bus. We used to live a few blocks from Vienna Metro, but are now an easy bike ride away.

"Walkable" for families doesn't usually mean walking to the grocery store or a soccer game. Before I moved to Vienna 10+ years ago, I lived literally behind a grocery store in Falls Church -- and I still drove to the grocery most of the time, because walking home with a flat of toilet paper and bung of bottles/cans is a PITA. If your kids can walk to a park and/or their friends' houses that is plenty walkable for most people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Capitol Hill. Lots of kids walking home from Union Station or Eastern Market in the afternoons, stopping for drinks/snacks, playing pickup baseball/basketball at the parks. I know because that's what my kids do. (They're middle schoolers.)

Capitol Hill resident here. Given the crime on the hill and the Union Station scene, I am unsure that I'd let an 11 year old walk home alone. Maybe a 14-15 year old. Love the hill up until now with a 7 year old, but it does not permit a lot of freedom for kids.

My kids are 11 and 13 and walk around the Hill all the time. From US every day; to parks or their friends’ houses almost daily. They’re always in groups at Union Station. I bet my kids and their friends have more freedom than most suburban kids.

NP here. My kid is 11 and he walks home from school and around the neighborhood by himself and with his friends. It’s one of the things we love most about Capitol Hill. We are near Eastern Market.

I love raising kids on the Hill! DS started walked to the grocery store on the Hill by himself at age 8 and was taking Metro and Metro bus alone around age 12. DD was a little more timid, but at age 15 is now teaching kids at her suburban private school how to take the bus/Metro from school to the Hill and other teenage hot spots (downtown, Pentagon City). She loves her independence and neither kid plans to learn to drive anytime soon. I feel much safer having them walk around the Hill than driving on a highway.

Another Capitol Hill family here, mom of three,

My 10-year-old rides the bus alone from Eastern Market to Basis every day. She’s been walking around the neighborhood by herself since age 8, but always on known streets.

It’s a fabulous walking neighborhood—for adults and kids.